Children’s book festival at Annantalo

Would you like to step into a fairy tale, peek into a princesses home, ride on the pigeon Puluboi or build almost real asphalt?

Now you can get a piece of Tatu and Patu’s humor and peek into the mossy ground to look for Molli and get to know new incredible characters. Give a raisin a phone call, hug Kaneli the dog or climb into the dragon’s nest; you can do it all at the Children’s Book Festival!

The Children’s Book Festival takes over the gallery spaces of Annantalo and even spills over the edges a bit. Sometimes you feel quite small and at the same time strong and big, as Finnish picture books are presented in all their glory. With piles of books, a hundred illustrators and forty children’s authors. You will encounter both old favorites and new favorites.

Finland’s largest children’s book festival will be held in Annantalo between October 2026 and February 2027.

The four-month-long children’s literature event celebrates books. The festival offers a diverse program. Exhibitions take children to the worlds of stories and illustrations. Visits by illustrators and authors bring the authors closer to readers. In Annansali, you can also experience performances and concerts based on Finnish children’s books. Many seminars discuss and examine reading and its importance.

The festival’s goal is to reach all families with children and show them that reading is fun! We also invite all those who don’t read much yet.

Finnish children’s literature is high-quality, polyphonic, diverse and multicultural. All genres of children’s literature are included; from picture books to poems, from non-fiction to board books. The event has three exhibition spaces, where picture books are presented by theme and grow out of the pages of the books into three-dimensional worlds of experience. Themes include: nature, seasons, home, emotions, imagination and the built world. The exhibition spaces feature reading corners, books and activities to inspire exploration. Familiar and unfamiliar characters inspire children to explore the content of the books both in the exhibition and at events during the exhibition. The exhibition also includes non-stop workshops and pedagogical material.

The event is organised by the Lastenkirjafestari association in collaboration with the City of Helsinki’s cultural services at the Annantalo Children’s and Youth Art Centre.